Boadicea

Boadicea was a British Celtic warrior queen who led a revolt against Roman occupation.
We dont know when she was born, but she probably died in 61 AD.
We know her history through two writers: Tacitus, in "Agricola" (98 AD) and "The Annals"
(109 AD), and Dio, in "The Rebellion of Boudicca" (about 163 AD).
Boudicca was the wife of Prasutagus, who was the head of the Iceni tribe in East England,
in what is now Norfolk and Suffolk. He was one of the only two Celtic kings still having
some of their traditional power.
In 47 AD the Romans forced the Iceni to disarm, creating resentment. The Romans gave
concessions to Prasutagus and when he died in 60 AD, he left half of his kingdom to the
Emperor Nero to pay this debt. The Romans arrived to collect, but instead of settling for
half the kingdom, taking total control of it. To humiliate the rulers, the Romans beat
Boudicca publicly, raped their two daughters, and sold much of the royal family into
slavery.
Boudicca meanwhile met with the leaders of the Iceni, and other tribes, who also had
grievances against the Romans. They planned to revolt against them and the the Roman
governor Suetonius. After defeated them at Colchester, Boadiceas army turned to London
and burned it, but it was weakened by famine after it discovered that the Roman food
stores abandoned by the tribes during the battle had been destroyed by Suetonius.
Boudicca fought one more battle, though its precise location is not sure. Her army was
exhausted, and in the end the Romans defeated it.
What happened to Boudicca is uncertain. It is said she returned to her home territory and
took poison to avoid Roman capture.
A result of the rebellion was that the Romans strengthened their military presence in
Britain and also lessened the oppressiveness of their rule.
Boudicca's story was nearly forgotten until Tacitus' work, Annals, was rediscovered in
1360. Her story became popular during the reign of another English queen who headed an
army against foreign invasion, Queen Elizabeth I.